


Dream Studies 501

by jabedalien



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Dreams, Jeff POV, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26541637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jabedalien/pseuds/jabedalien
Summary: 6 dreams Jeff has about Abed
Relationships: Abed Nadir/Jeff Winger
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	Dream Studies 501

**Author's Note:**

> okay the summary says it all. i've never done a 5 +1 fic so idk what the rules are?? i kinda just did whatever  
> for basic format:  
> scenes are split up with the number for each dream, the first part is always the "dream" sequence then after the break is real life.

Jeff dreamt about Abed. It wasn’t something he’d ever tell anyone, particularly not Abed himself, because even if dreams are just some type of jumbled mental highlight reel our consciousness can’t control, it’s still _weird_. Weird that someone you know in real life occasionally visits your dreams. That’s what it feels like too, a visit, like Abed himself is there, not just some image of him, which never fails to freak him out a little.

Once, he heard that people actually have a lot of dreams, every single night, but forget the vast majority of them. Jeff wonders if that means he only ever dreams about Abed, or if those are just the only dreams he can ever recall.

_-1-_

They’re in Abed’s dorm room, the tv playing unintelligible mumbles. Jeff’s standing in front of it, looking at Abed on the couch, eating lucky charms. The edges are fuzzy, but he feels like he did when he was living there; uninhibited, at ease, oddly himself. Even in the dream there’s a nostalgia to it. Abed stops eating and looks at Jeff. He feels like he’s supposed to say something, but the words don’t leave his mouth.

Abed blinks slowly, then speaks. “You can do whatever you want, you just have to know what that is.”

Jeff tries to answer, tries to tell Abed he doesn’t know what he wants, to see if maybe he’s got some dream wisdom to share. It seems like he does, from the way he props his feet against the coffee table and clinks his spoon to the bowl.

…

But instead he wakes up, throws his sheets aside in a cold sweat, and stays up until the sunrise thinking about what he wants. The next time he sees Abed he stares at him for a long time, not really meaning to, just secretly trying to detect whether Abed has any knowledge of his dream-hopping abilities. He doesn’t seem to notice.

_-2-_

This time they’re sitting on the steel slab of the cafeteria kitchen, much closer in proximity, and everything but Abed’s face seems to fade in and out of existence. He’s just looking at Jeff, not saying anything and flapping a chicken finger in his hand.

“Why are we here?” Jeff asks.

Abed shrugs and takes a bite. When Jeff tries to, he can’t taste it, which somehow makes him realize this isn’t real. He manages to speak.

“Is there like, a lesson I’m supposed to be learning here or something?”

“We just wrapped up the lesson; you’re gonna help me connect with people, and I’ll help you do a better job with them. Like Knight Rider.” Abed answers.

“That doesn’t make this any clearer.”

“Not my problem.”

…

When Jeff wakes up he remembers that today is in fact chicken finger day, and chalks the whole dream up to that. But when Abed catches his eye while he’s gesturing with a chicken finger, trying to explain the plot of some movie to Britta, it feels more significant than it should.

_-3-_

Jeff’s walking down the hallway at Greendale, the knowledge of where he’s going just barely outrunning his mind.

He happens upon his locker and opens it, the clicks and turns feeling natural even here.

When he opens the locker though, Abed’s crammed inside of it, a mess of bony limbs forced against the space.

Jeff reaches for his arms, but everything’s blurry and only half-real, every time he finds a place to grab onto him it’s gone again in an instant. The rest of the setting around Jeff disappears. It’s just the locker, Abed’s dark eyes staring into him, and piercing silence.

Just as he thinks he’s got Abed by the wrist, the back of the locker opens up and falls away, revealing a dark void of space. Abed’s being pulled down into it, Jeff’s fingers holding onto him for just long enough to meet his eyes before he plummets into the darkness. When he’s swallowed up by the stars the locker door slams closed, startling Jeff awake.

…

Jeff thinks about the dream for most of the day. It’s quite easy to do, actually, since when he gets to school he’s too afraid to open his locker, even with Abed standing right next to him. So he doesn’t get anything done in any of his classes, just sits there and replays it all over and over. At the end of the day, Abed catches him in the parking lot and asks what’s wrong.

_-4-_

They’re in the restaurant Jeff took them to on Abed’s birthday, but something’s different, the lights or the colors or the air pressure. Definitely something. Jeff’s looking around the restaurant, at all the faceless patrons, trying to figure out what’s wrong when a motion in the corner of his vision catches his eye and he turns.

Abed’s sitting in his place at the booth, but a pair of wings stretch out from his back, wrapping around the seat. They’re huge, white and feathered, and Abed doesn’t mention them, but the tip of one presses against Jeff’s shoulder.

“Why did you do this?” Abed asks.

“Why did I do what?”

“Take me here.” Abed answers, picking up his knife and fork. Jeff watches as Abed casually grabs his phone from the glass it’s been dunked in, cuts it up and takes a bite, keys crunching between his teeth.

“To distract you while the rest of the group set up the party.”

“Are you going to keep lying to yourself, Jeff? I thought we had a real conversation.”

“We didn’t.”

“It was real to you.”

Jeff couldn’t respond to that.

“So why _did_ you take me here?” Abed repeats. “Because it felt like a date? That’s what you wanted it to be, wasn’t it? You made excuses to get me alone, in a somewhat romantic setting, and you were upset when I did my homage because it clashed with your fantasy.”

“Why are you asking me why I did it when you clearly already think you know?” Jeff shoots back.

“Of course I know, I’m you. I just wanted you to hear it.” Abed says. A beat of his wings rustles the napkins on the tabletop.

Jeff wants to do something, _needs_ to do something, but the world freezes on Abed, then shatters out of focus.

…

He wakes up with a start, his chest heaving as he tries to find himself again. The sun is just starting to come up through his window. Things feel different in this world too, everything’s a slightly different hue now.

There’s probably not much of a point in falling asleep again when he’s got class this morning, but Jeff buries his face in the pillow anyways. When he closes his eyes he thinks of Abed, of the wings and his all-knowing gaze. Contemplates _what-if-it-had-been-a-real-date_ until he dozes off for an extra hour of sleep.

_-5-_

Jeff feels the darkness settling in the second the images emerge, dark shadows invading the corners of the brightly colored cartoon world.

“I don’t want to be back here!” Jeff yells at no one in particular. The Cobra forces are shooting at him from helicopters and behind barbed wire fences, but the bullets all miss, so they go ignored.

He yells out to the flat landscape again. “Where the hell is Abed?!” 

Jeff goes to pull his phone out of his pocket, but it’s some sort of walkie talkie that he doesn’t even think _exists_ in G.I. Joe. He tries to check the time, but the numbers all melt into each other. The only thing on the screen is a message he’s sent to Abed.

_I need to talk to you._

He feels a presence behind him and turns slowly, facing an unblinking cartoon of the Fourth Wall character, but Abed all the same.

“You missed the funny part of that reference.” He says. “Without the ‘Say you have to pee’ part it just sounds serious.”

“It _was_ serious. That’s why I put the reference there in the first place.”

Abed stops to shoot up at a helicopter over them before answering. “He’ll probably get that.”

“Are you _not_ him?” Jeff asks.

“You’re really stupid.” The animated Abed tells him. “This is a nightmare you’re having because you sent that text and fell asleep before seeing his answer.”

…

Jeff wakes up and fumbles for his phone, unlocking it to read a message from Abed.

 _-6-_  
The dream starts in a meadow, surrounded by trees on every side, but warm grass and flowers hit his ankles. Jeff walks a few steps further, each taking him closer and closer to the center of the clearing. There’s an old tv there, playing an episode of Cougar Town complete with crackling static. Abed’s laying back on his elbows in the grass in front of it. He’s got the wings again, spread out under him. There’s a sunflower in his hands, he’s plucking petals off one by one and tossing them aside, landing on the ground circling him or stark against the white feathers.

“What’s all this?” Jeff questions as he crouches down next to Abed.

Abed doesn’t hear, or maybe Jeff didn’t actually say it.

“You can do whatever you want, you just have to know what that is.” Abed tells him.

“I want to kiss you.” Jeff answers immediately.

Abed leans in at the same time Jeff does, fingertips light against his face.

…

Jeff’s eyes blink open, but he falls into somewhere equally comfortable, a steady hand running through his hair. His head is resting on Abed’s thigh, it’s warm and a little bony, but it feels like home. Jeff turns his head to look up at Abed, eyes still focused on the tv. When he realizes Jeff’s awake, he looks down and smiles.

“I had a dream about you.” Jeff says.

Abed raises his eyebrows. “Really?”

“I always dream about you.”

He’s met with wide eyes for a moment, then a brighter smile. “I didn’t know that.”

“For like… a long time.” Jeff admits.

"In what kind of way?" Abed asks, a hint suspicious.

"Not like _that_. You just tell me what I need to hear."

"Like I do in real life?" Abed jokes.

"Pretty much."

“That's kind of cool, I wish I dreamt about you.” Abed says, resting a hand on the side of Jeff’s face. “My dreams are usually pretty vivid, but based solely on whatever movie I watched that day.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” Jeff laughs.

“Well it's either that, or I dream that I can fly.”

**Author's Note:**

> as always thanks so much for the gnomes. you guys helped so much with ideas for this i hope u enjoy !!


End file.
